In a simpler time, not so long ago, there was only one place online to go, to express yourself and be amongst friends, while wildly wielding your scene cred. It was a place for ranking friends and sweeping fringes, for HTML codes and PC4PC binges, for DeviantArt and musical discovery, it was a bulletin board for all the world to see, the loudest expression of your personality, and central to this pseudo-utopian place, was the profile song on your MySpace.
It gave a generation a voice and they raised a scene, from the underground to the mainstream, if you were a heavy band in the mid-noughties, it was where you had to be.
So in reverence to this mystical place, we’ve gone and made our own top 8!
These top 8 MySpace Screamo tracks still absolutely slap, so crank it up and get ready to <3 react!
Oh and if your favourite track didn’t make the list, cheer up emo kid and don’t make that sad react, coz there’ll be more top 8’s still to come here on Maniacs!
These Top 8 MySpace Screamo Tracks Still Absolutely Slap
Alexisonfire - This Could Be Anywhere In The World
Canadian post-hardcore legends Alexisonfire hit it big with what would become the core of the MySpace ‘screamo’ crowd on their second album Watch Out! Landing just as MySpace was exploding in popularity, the band’s third full-length Crisis debuted at #1 in their homeland and propelled them to stardom in new territories. Boiled Frogs, Rough Hands and Mailbox Arson became favourites for many fans but it was This Could Be Anywhere In The World and its instantly recognisable drums that made it to the holy grail of profile song.
From First To Last - Ride The Wings Of Pestilence
Long before he was Skrillex, Sonny Moore was the teenage screamo wunderkinder with the impossibly long fringe fronting From First To Last. From First To Last's Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Now Has A Body Count is among the most frequently referenced touchpoints of this era, with its mixture of post-hardcore, metalcore and pop-punk elements making it a neat fit between the three emerging sounds in the scene at the time. With lyrics graphic enough to scare your parents, members good looking enough to push as scene dreams, great branding and marketing from Epitaph Records and some undisputable hooks, From First To Last hit a large group of kids right in that profile song place. Whether it was Note To Self, Emily or our choice here Ride The Wings Of Pestilence, if you were into this scene chances are FFTL took pride of place on your profile at least once.
Escape The Fate - Situations
Speaking of albums that are referenced as era touchpoints, Escape The Fate's Dying Is The Latest Fashion was a screamo tour-de-force upon release, hot shotting the Las Vegan's to the forefront of their scene thanks to its unapologetically over-the-top approach and unashamed pop-nous. Dying Is The Latest Fashion turns a mixture of heavy sounds that seemed improbable a decade earlier and shines them up to within an inch of their life, creating a showy and shiny showcase for the man we've all come to know and love to hate as Ronnie Radke. Is it a coincidence that this also came out on Epitaph Records and they looked, acted and wrote the way that they did? Probably not, but for all the obvious marketing nous that went into turning this into a hit, the songs and the talent behind them are undeniable. The hooks on this profile song to millions, Situations are a thing of screamo genius.
My Chemical Romance - I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
The undisputed kings of the MySpace era and one of only arguably three acts to truly reach mainstream prominence (alongside pop-punk acts Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy and Paramore) My Chemical Romance could easily fill a top 8 on their own, so ubiquitous was their music in the MySpace mid-late naughties peak. Whether some Maniacs would like to admit it or not, they were unavoidable for good reason, their songs fucking rule. A truly original combination of glam, punk, emo, post-hardcore and classic rock styles, MCR took the confines of the scene they came up in and gave them an almighty shake-up, injecting songcraft, musicality and world-building and incorporating narrative storytelling and perhaps unintendedly brilliant marketing constructs. The result was a stadium-sized monster that fully emerged with The Black Parade in 2006, but the MySpace kids were in much earlier than that and it was I'm Not Okay (I Promise) from the brilliant Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge that could be heard blasting out of Logitech computer speakers as you loaded up your friends profile page. Also, Gerard Way's vocal characterisations make this song is so much fun to sing at karaoke!
The Used - I Caught Fire
Arguably the first band of this 'scene' to 'breakthrough', The Used were inescapable from the moment they dropped their self-titled debut in 2002 (especially so in Australia) until probably the tail end of the campaign for their third full-length 2007's Lies For The Liars. Fronted by the Kelly Osbourne dating walking definition of charisma, Bert McCracken, The Used's blend of post-hardcore started out as a much more intense offering than their contemporaries, emotionally speaking, with their live shows becoming synonymous with chaotic intensity, but it was ultimately the poppy hooks that saw them catch on with a mainstream audience, circa the release of their second album, the chart conquering In Love And Death. At the time of its release, the band were big enough to justify their own travelling stadium festival, which is pretty wild. Pretty much the entirety of their first two albums could be put in this slot, such was the enthusiasm and fanfare for the band in the MySpace realm, but ultimately we went with one of their biggest commercial hits, I Caught Fire.
Underoath - Reinventing Your Exit
Underoath's mega scene hit record, They're Only Chasing Safety strapped a rocket launcher to both the band and their label Solid State Records. The first record to feature then new vocalist Spencer Chamberlain this record did everything well that the other records with songs to feature on this list did well, only it did it while also being Christian. The record was a massive success stateside and that success translated downunder as well and listening to the record back now, it is not hard to understand why. The songs are openly emotional, hit heavy when they need to, have some mathy elements and do a roaring trade in soaring hooks. Take this popular choice for profile song Reinventing Your Exit as the ultimate example. While our choice for best Underoath album would be Define The Great Line, there's no denying that this is the screamo hit.
Funeral For A Friend - Roses For The Dead
Perhaps more associated with the metal and metalcore booms of the era, the UK still had its fair share of 'screamo' acts. Welshman Funeral For A Friend were with the possible exception of another Welsh act whose name we will never speak again, the most palatable proposition to ears outside the UK with both their 2003 debut Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation and 2005's Hours considered scene treasures. Offering a more traditional melodic approach to his contemporaries, vocalist Matt Davies voice helped to separate the band from the pack, with the more traditional metal tonality of their guitar work also putting them slightly at odds with the punkier or more hardcore influenced acts they were surrounded by. A nice point of difference in a saturated scene, Roses For The Dead is pure quality and could be heard on many a profile in 2005. It also happens to be a good example of what Funeral For A Friend do best.
Story Of The Year - Until The Day I Die
I'll admit it, I was pretty close to not including this based off of a technicality that also saw killer songs from Thrice, Finch, Taking Back Sunday and numerous others miss out on slots, it was technically released before the true 'MySpace era' hit, but unlike The Used, Story Of The Year, never produced a hit anywhere near as big as this again. As a result this song was a staple profile song for more or less the entirety of the peak era and it isn't hard to understand why. This is essentially pop-rock gone post-hardcore in the best possible way. It hits melodically, it hits emotionally, it hits musically, it's just a very well constructed heavy rock ballad that has been produced expertly by John Feldmann, who was behind the desk on a LOT of these MySpace era hits (including The Used one in this list). This song would still be a hit on alt/rock radio today. Don't fight it, this is the perfect screamo ballad.
Our First-Ever Double Bonus Round!
Saosin - 7 Years
If someone asked you what 'screamo' sounded like, you should just play them this song.
This band built their entire career via MySpace and SmartPunk. It doesn't get much more MySpace era than that. Also, they get bonus points for a splintering that resulted in us getting not one, but two great bands! Saosin and Circa Survive!
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Face Down
Catchy AF screamo song about an important issue (domestic violence) that started a long-overdue conversation in segments of the scene they emerged from. Seems like a worthy inclusion to any list.
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